For that boy, Tybre Faw, the civil rights icon was not only a hero, but a personal friend.
The two met in Selma, Alabama, in March 2018. We were there covering the annual civil rights pilgrimage that Lewis led when we saw Tybre standing outside a church where Lewis was attending a service. He was holding a sign that said, “Thank you, Rep. John Lewis. You have taught me how to have courage.”
When we spoke to Tybre, we learned that he had asked his grandmothers to take him seven hours from his Johnson City home to Selma in hopes of meeting the man mentioned in the books on the civil rights movement that the boy regularly brought out of the library and devoured.
We connected Tybre and his grandmothers with Lewis’ staff and took him to the back entrance to the church where the congressman would be leaving.
Tybre’s eyes filled with tears the moment he saw Lewis, who approached, read the sign, and hugged him as he spoke quietly to the boy who hung on every word. None of us who witnessed the meeting could not help crying. Even the Capitol Police officers there, trained to be stoic, could not contain their tears.
It was one of the most powerful moments any of us have witnessed, and we all knew it.
“We cannot allow this light to burn …”
We played a video of that time during one of our on-air reports on Saturday morning after Lewis died, and Nathan Morris of the Boyz II Men music group saw him, he was moved to tears and contacted us to ask about Tybre.
Morris responded to the text message after viewing the story asking if Tybre had a college background, saying, “That boy should be given a chance to succeed!”
The answer was no. Tybre is the only child of a single mother, whose grandmothers also play an important role in his education.
In a long post on that page, Morris wrote that Tybre is “a bright light in a dark moment” and that “he wants to grow and make a difference. He wants to be a congressman and follow in the footsteps of the late John Luis.”
“We cannot allow this light to burn out before it has a chance to shine,” Morris added.
Tybre’s relationship with Lewis strengthens
After learning of King and other civil rights leaders, and after learning that Lewis was still alive, living in Atlanta and serving in Congress, Tybre asked his grandmothers to take him to Atlanta.
“Tybre asked, ‘Will you take me there to shake my hand?'” Annarino recalled.
Tybre’s grandmothers agreed to take him to Selma, where his persistence and his grandmother’s seven-hour trip paid off.
After meeting Lewis and crossing the bridge with him that day in 2018, Tybre launched into activism, marching for everything from school safety to human rights and children on the border, all the while in contact with Lewis.
Tybre even joined Lewis later that year in Atlanta for the March for our lives.
But it was her two subsequent trips with Lewis on his civil rights pilgrimage in 2019, and this year, Lewis’s last, that cemented his magical friendship.
He asked his grandmothers to take him on other historical trips on vacation, from Boston to see the Freedom Trail, to the Woolworth lunch counter in North Carolina, where African-Americans sat demanding service and equality.
One last encounter with your hero.
On February 21, Tybre FaceTimed with Lewis to wish him a happy birthday.
The congressman had been diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer two months earlier, and it was unclear if he would arrive in Selma in March, where Tybre already knew he would be.
Lewis did what ended up being his last trip across the bridge, but people stayed away from the congressman due to his illness, so Tybre and his grandmothers didn’t think the two would connect.
But as Lewis got into his car to leave, the same Capitol Police officers who attended the congressman’s first encounter with Tybre saw him in the crowd and took him to Lewis.
With the coronavirus already spreading and social distancing beginning, the two shared a blow to the elbow instead of a hug. It turned out to be the last time Tybre saw her idol and mentor.
After Lewis died Friday, Tybre said, “Neither the world nor I will be the same after losing John Lewis, my heart hurts.”
“The first year I met John Lewis, I never thought I would have a chance to meet someone who had such courage. I felt blessed to be there. Over the years, I had a chance with John Lewis to spread the word that our el The world can be better – to find a way to get in the way – to get in trouble. He will always be my hero. “
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct the name of Tybre Faw’s hometown.
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